Fire and Rescue services

Compendium 2005/06

There are eight fire and rescue services in Scotland. Two of these cover the same areas as councils - Dumfries & Galloway and Fife. Six are responsible to joint boards of councils and cover more than one council area: Central Scotland, Lothian & Borders, Grampian, Highland & Islands, Strathclyde and Tayside.

Several factors affect the way a service performs. It is necessary to be aware of these in order to understand why results may vary. Some factors are outwith the control of a service - for example, the level of deprivation and the mix between urban and rural settlements. Other factors may be specific to a particular service or to the groups of people it serves.

These local factors may mean that a service with a performance which, at first sight, appears to be worse than that of another has, in fact, done better given the circumstances it faces.